Articles Tagged Mixing

Even with today’s inexpensive recording systems, it’s possible to achieve a dynamic range of over 90 dB—in other words, the loudest sounds you record can be over 90 decibels louder than the background noise. Managing all of the “area” between these two extremes, for each and every sound you record, is a skill that’s critical to making a good-sounding recording. Fortunately, there are expanders, compressors, and limiters (collectively called dynamics processors) that help in this task. We’ll start here with…
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This article is provided by Behind The Mixer. There is no one bass mix to rule them all. Each music style calls for a different bass mix. Songs within a genre call for unique bass mixes. The bass is more than just a low-end addition. If you’ve ever listened to a bass solo in jazz or rock, it’s obvious it has a unique sound. This comes from how the musician is playing the bass and the genre of music.…
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The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, an institution of American music that has presented countless top artists for almost 90 years, recently switched to a Harman’s Studer Vista 9 digital console for broadcast services and a Studer Vista 5 M2 as its new front of house console. With shows on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House (including occasional back-to-back shows on Fridays and Saturdays), the Opry’s technical staff operates at a hectic pace. For its broadcast…
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This article is provided by Gary Zandstra.com. Sitting in the tech booth during a service on a recent Sunday, I had an “a-ha” moment. Not a big one, but still a good lesson. We had traded worship bands for the day with our sister church. Our band was playing at their place, and vice versa. One of our front of house people, Justin, traveled with the band to do the mixing. Just as our service began, I received a…
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Avid has announced the new VENUE | S3L-X compact live mixing system, building on the Avid | S3L system in making it easier to meet the increasing scope, size, complexity, and diversity of modern live sound requirements. VENUE | S3L-X enables engineers to mix and record live shows with power and efficiency, and create new material or mix down live recordings for commercial purposes. When used together, S3L-X and Pro Tools software—both powered by the Avid MediaCentral Platform—deliver a streamlined,…
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With the advent of digital consoles, the monitor engineer’s ability to reset the entire desk with the push of a button is a powerful tool. However, there are many situations where the console must be adjusted from scratch or “zero initial data,” whether it’s a festival, support act or a one-off. Doing a little homework in advance can save valuable time. Look at everything that must be taken care of on the console before the band is on stage: inputs…
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Six-time Grammy Award winners Outkast – the duo of André “André 3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton – has taken its live show to another level with an assist from DiGiCo SD10 digital consoles for both front of house and monitors. The switch to the new consoles came about halfway through the group’s 40-date worldwide summer festival itinerary, which included stops at Coachella, Lollapalooza and Way Out West. “It does sound amazing,” notes Darcy Khan, Outkast’s front of house…
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This article is provided by Behind The Mixer. I created a frog. It wasn’t intentional. Naturally, I’m not talking about a real frog but just look at that photo to the left! You’ll never read a mixing book that says, “Make the snare’s EQ curve look like a frog in water.” If you do, immediately stop reading the book. Seriously, when it comes to snare mixing, the last place you want to be is behind the mixer. There are…
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Article provided by Home Studio Corner. In this new video, Joe focuses on implementing “fake strings” within a song, and in particular, how to do it using volume automation. It’s not appropriate for every song and needs to be applied carefully, with proper use of volume automation helping in getting it integrated appropriately into the mix. In other words, serving good purpose in the song without being too prominent—or, well, fake. The video also serves as an overall primer…
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This article is provided by the Pro Audio Files. The meaning of the word “good” is one of my odd and recurring fascinations. What makes a “good” mix? Music is a subjective field with many general principles but very few hard and fast rules. The arts are inherently up for interpretation — and so “good” to one person may be “bad” to another. I could site examples of this, except there’s so many I feel there’s really no need.…
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